ZebraWords.com - The Definition of 'Underlease', Synonyms of 'Underlease' & More on 'Underlease'

1. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Underlease \Un"der*lease\, n. (Law)
   A lease granted by a tenant or lessee; especially, a lease
   granted by one who is himself a lessee for years, for any
   fewer or less number of years than he himself holds; a
   sublease. --Burrill.
   [1913 Webster]

2. Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)

UNDERLEASE, contracts. An alienation by a tenant of a part of his lease, 
reserving to himself a reversion; it differs from an assignment, which is a 
transfer of all the tenant's interest in the lease. 3 Wils. 234; S. C. Bl. 
Rep. 766. And even a conveyance of the whole estate by the lessee, reserving 
to himself the rent, with a power of re-entry for non-payment, was held to 
be, not an assignment, but an underlease. Str. 405. In Ohio it has been 
decided that the transfer of only a part of the lands, though for the whole 
term, is an underlease; 2 Ohio, R. 216; in Kentucky, such a transfer, on the 
contrary, is considered as an assignment. 4 Bibb. R. 538. 
     2. In leases there is frequently introduced a covenant on the part of 
the lessee, that he will not underlet the premises, nor assign the lease. 
This refers to the voluntary act of the tenant, and the covenant is not 
broken when the lease is transferred without any act on his part; as, if it 
be sold by the sheriff on execution, or by assignees in bankruptcy, or by an 
executor. 8 T. R. 57; 3 M. & S. 353; 1 Ves. 295. 
     3. The underlessor has a right to distrain for the rent due to him, 
which, the assignor of a lease has not. The under-lessee is not liable 
personally to the original lessor, nor is his property subject to his claim 
for rent longer than while it is on the leased premises, when it may be 
distrained upon. The assignee of the lessee stands in a different situation. 
He is liable to an action by the landlord or his assignee for the rent, upon 
the ground of privity of estate. 1 Hill. Ab. 125, 6; 4 Kent, Com. 95; 9 
Pick. R. 52; 14 Mass. 487; 5 Watts, R. 134. Vide 2 Bl. R. 766; 3 Wils. 234; 
4 Campb. 73; Bouv. Inst. Index, tit. Underletting. Vide Estate for years; 
Lease; Lessee; Notice to quit; Tenant for years.

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